From: AlanBaggett@volcanomail.com   
      
   Canada Revenue Agency monitoring Facebook, Twitter posts of some Canadians    
   :CRA SOTW   
      
   Agency is increasingly turning to cutting-edge data analysis techniques to   
   improve service and 'compliance'   
      
   By Elizabeth Thompson, CBC News    
      
   The Canada Revenue Agency is scrutinizing the Facebook pages, Twitter feeds   
   and other social media posts of Canadians it suspects could be cheating on   
   their taxes.   
      
   That's just one example of the agency's increasing focus on what it can learn   
   by collecting and analyzing many kinds of data — both its own internally   
   generated information and what it calls "publicly available information."   
      
   "The CRA does practice risk-based compliance, so for taxpayers identified as   
   high risk, any relevant, publicly available information relating to the   
   specific risk-based factors for the taxpayer may be consulted as part of our   
   fact-gathering processes,"    
   said spokesperson David Walters.   
      
   Among those considered high risk are wealthy Canadians with offshore bank   
   accounts, said Jean-François Ruel, director of CRA's Strategy and Integration   
   Branch.   
      
   "If we go with high-risk, high-wealth individuals that do offshore [banking],   
   then we would look at all information that is public for compliance action."   
      
   Tobi Cohen, spokesperson for the privacy commissioner, said CRA notified it of   
   its plan to collect publicly available information from social media in   
   connection with "tax fraud and non-compliance risk analysis, audits and   
   investigations."   
      
   However, David Christopher, of the advocacy group Open Media, said his   
   organization opposes government agencies monitoring what Canadians are saying   
   on social media.   
      
   "When Canadians post something on Facebook, they believe that they are sharing   
   that with their friends and with their family. They don't believe that they   
   are sharing that with some government bureaucrat in Ottawa," he said.   
      
   "Unfortunately, Facebook's privacy settings are notoriously complex and many   
   people might think that they are posting something to their friends and it   
   ends up getting shared with the whole world."   
      
   The revelation that the Canada Revenue Agency is checking social media posts   
   comes as the agency is also expanding its use of cutting-edge technology and   
   data analysis to better catch tax cheats, to target people for audits and to   
   improve its service for    
   Canadians.   
      
   Big data   
   Business intelligence, also known as big data, is a rapidly growing area   
   within CRA. In 2016 alone, the agency posted three separate privacy impact   
   assessments centred on its plans to use business intelligence techniques in   
   its operations.   
      
   Andrew Treusch, who retired as CRA commissioner in June, previously wrote   
   about how technology is changing the way the tax agency operates. (CRA )   
      
   "Evolving technology is having a significant impact on our approach to   
   compliance," he wrote in the agency's 2016-17 Report on Planning and   
   Priorities.   
      
   "Data analysis and business intelligence are providing us with better insight   
   into taxpayer behaviours, allowing us to spend less time and effort on   
   lower-risk groups of taxpayers and focus our resources on dealing with   
   deliberate non-compliance."   
      
   In the report, the agency says business intelligence, which includes "mining   
   accessible data," is a key area.   
      
   "This is because of the far-reaching opportunities it presents to enhance   
   strategies for compliance, services and debt collection. Business intelligence   
   encompasses big data to improve non-compliance detection (predictive   
   analytics) and behavioural    
   economics (such as 'nudging') to improve compliance."   
      
   Future techniques   
   An internal CRA document, which CBC News first found on the website of the U.S   
   Internal Revenue Service, outlines CRA's plans to use business intelligence   
   techniques in the future.   
      
   The document, prepared in 2014, describes plans to move into such areas as   
   predictive analytics, which can use data and algorithms to help officials   
   decide whether someone who hasn't paid their taxes should get a gentle   
   reminder, a phone call or an audit.   
      
   A chart in the document indicates CRA also planned to get data to analyze from   
   "web and social media."   
      
   Ruel said while the agency was looking into the prospect at the time, it is   
   not currently planning to include social media analysis as part of the   
   business intelligence side of its operations.   
      
   "A lot of steps and a lot of work in terms of privacy would have to be done   
   first and it's not one of the priorities right now."   
      
   However, he said the business intelligence unit does analyze data from CRA's   
   interactions with Canadians through its own Twitter and YouTube accounts.   
      
   "When they communicate with us, we analyze this information to make sure that   
   we understand what is happening," Ruel said. "If there is concern around   
   scams, for example, we will take that information and then create a   
   communications strategy to make    
   sure that people have the information that they need."   
      
   Identifying offshore tax evasion   
   Ruel said the business intelligence section has a dual focus: improving   
   service for Canadians while at the same time identifying cases that should be   
   audited.   
      
   On the audit side, it is working extensively with data it has been receiving   
   from Canadian financial institutions since January 2015 whenever someone makes   
   an electronic transfer worth $10,000 or more.   
      
   The result has been a lot of information about countries of concern for   
   offshore tax evasion.   
      
   "If we look at the case and we see there are a lot of funds transfers toward a   
   country where we know there could be some offshore activities, then we link   
   that information with all the other information that we have and we prioritize   
   that way," Ruel said.   
      
   The agency has also begun text analytics, also known as text mining. For   
   example, Ruel said the business intelligence section is analyzing auditors'   
   notes to detect new tax schemes or techniques for avoiding taxes.   
      
   But as CRA and other federal departments increase their use of data, privacy   
   advocates say they should also be asking tough questions.   
      
   In a speech prepared for a conference in December, Patricia Kosseim, senior   
   general counsel at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, warned that just   
   because something is publicly available online, doesn't mean individuals have   
   waived their rights to    
   privacy.   
      
      
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